Browser automation glossary.
17 entries — from browser automation basics, through anti-bot detection, to engineering patterns like idempotency and dead-letter queues.
Engineering5
- CDP (Chrome DevTools Protocol)
Communication protocol with Chrome / Chromium used by DevTools and all automation tools (Playwright, Puppeteer). WebSocket-based, ~150 methods.
- Dead letter queue (DLQ)
Queue for messages that repeatedly failed processing. We do not lose data — failed jobs go to DLQ for manual review or later replay.
- Idempotency
Property of an operation that gives the same result regardless of execution count. Critical in automation — allows safe retries after failure.
- Rate limiting
Limiting requests per time period — protects APIs from abuse and overload. Token bucket, leaky bucket, fixed window. Critical for external API integrations.
- Webhook
HTTP callback sent by systems to your endpoint when an event happens. Push-based vs polling. Stripe, GitHub, Slack, Salesforce all use them.
Fundamentals4
- Browser automation
Programmatic control of a browser to perform tasks normally done by a human — clicking, filling forms, scraping, monitoring.
- Headless browser
Browser running without graphical UI — renders pages and executes scripts, but displays nothing. Standard mode for production automation.
- RPA (Robotic Process Automation)
Business process automation via software "robots" — simulate human work in GUI applications. UiPath, Automation Anywhere, Blue Prism.
- Web scraping
Automated retrieval and parsing of data from websites — via HTTP request or browser automation. Foundation of price monitoring, lead intel, data aggregation.
Infrastructure3
- Account warming
Gradually building account trust on a platform (LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram) through normal activity. Required before automation to avoid bans.
- Datacenter proxy
Proxies with datacenter IPs (AWS, Hetzner, OVH). Cheap ($1-5/GB), massive scale, but easily detected on protected sites. Good for unprotected targets.
- Residential proxy
Proxies with real ISP user IPs (Comcast, Verizon, Vodafone). Expensive ($5-15/GB) but hard to detect. Standard for protected targets.
Security3
- Anti-bot detection
Systems detecting automated traffic — Cloudflare Bot Management, Akamai, Datadome, PerimeterX. Check 40+ signals: TLS fingerprint, JS fingerprint, behavior.
- Browser fingerprinting
Browser identification through unique signal combination — canvas, WebGL, fonts, audio, screen, plugins. Main anti-bot detection mechanism.
- CAPTCHA
Test verifying whether the user is human. reCAPTCHA, hCaptcha, Cloudflare Turnstile, FunCaptcha. Bypass via solving services or session warming.
Tools2
- Playwright
Open-source library by Microsoft for browser automation — Chromium, Firefox, WebKit. De facto standard in 2026 for browser automation.
- Puppeteer
Google library for Chromium automation. Older predecessor of Playwright. Chrome-only, Node.js-only — gradually being displaced by Playwright in 2026.